Let Your Voice Be Heard! Go Vote!

DJ Supastar talks to Zarina Poole with UNCF and Ray Shackelford with the National Urban League of Young Professionals. Your next chance to exercise your right to vote is coming up on Tuesday, November 7th.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Ninety three seven to Beat, hTown's very hip hop home at the Breakfast
Club in one thousand dollars Bank roGood Sunday morning, Welcome to face to
Beat. This is everything popping inthe h Town community. I'm your go
DJ superstar, and don't forget Okay, it is a rod wave whining weekend.
We'll talk about that a little later. But I am so happy to
have somebody on the line that isvery important to us. Okay, it's

(00:23):
very important to our community. TheUNCF has been around a very long time
and it helps a lot, alot a lot of high school students,
just not high school students, collegestudents, and you know, just the
community period. And I am sohappy to have the area Development Director,
Miss Zarena Pool. Good morning,good morning, Happy Sunday. He soon,

(00:48):
Happy Sunday. Thank you for joiningus early this morning. So listen,
y'all. First of all, wehave if y'all don't know, my
real name starts with the ZE.So we just had a whole talk about
Z names, So shout out tothe people names. Let's start with Z
out there. Yes, absolutely okay, So for the listeners that don't know

(01:12):
who and what the U n CFis just you know, give them a
little breakdown for us. Absolutely.So, un CF is the nation's largest
and most effective minority education organization.Next year, we are looking forward to
celebrating our eightieth anniversary. We're goingto have a big party here in town.

(01:36):
Yes, we're so excited about that. And locally we're going to be
celebrating our thirty fourth Kala this year. So every year UNCF awards about ten
thousand students with scholarships, which isworth more than one hundred million every year.
So we truly believe in investing intomorrow's workforce by training them up today

(02:00):
to support our state bc US.We have thirty seven and the UNCS network
for which are here in a greatstate of Texas. Man, you know,
I remember growing up as a kid, and tell me if you like,
I remember watching those telethons where theyused to come on with louro we

(02:23):
All and my grandmother for real,I was I would always see that,
you know, And you know,as I got older and involved in the
community and everything, I was like, man, it's always been like instilled

(02:44):
in the back of my brain kindof you know, because that's something that
you know, every labor day wewould watch that, you know, coming
on going to school, Like,I don't know, it's just like redundant
every year around that time. Sojust to see the UNCF still around is
like amazing. So it's like agreat cause. So we have a local

(03:04):
so how can well, first ofall, I know, I don't want
to sound a little ignorant to thisbook. How can someone get involved in
the local chapter here in Houston ordo we can't act? Yeah, that's
a great question. You know ourlocal office we're remote right now, but

(03:27):
we'll be bringing back a brick andmortar office soon. However, we have
tons of ways to get involved.We do an annual walk, it's our
grassroots community event that happens in September. Then we have a youth Gala opportunity
that is a third party event thathelps to raise funds for other students to
go to school, for students supportingstudents. Then we have our big gala

(03:52):
coming up next month. But thenwe're also looking for committee members to help
us with our faith campaign. We'relooking to reach out and connect with our
love. We want them to goand represent HBCUs and talk about all the
ways that they have passionately and sorreally been educated and supported at our school.
So we're always looking for advocates andambassadors to speak on our behalf and

(04:16):
join our committees and the biggest way, and I know people don't sometimes look
at it as volunteering and getting involvedwith supporting us financially. That's another way.
If you don't have the time togive us, you know, if
you don't have the capacity to leadin the event, you can always write
a check and that's helps. Youcan go to the website card I know

(04:44):
that right, Hey, what's thewebsite? Why you just drifted at this
perfect time and drive the website?Sure, so to go to our UNCS
website and you can click on theUNCS area offices. That's an easy way.
You click on hoston then you findus. If you want to support
the gala, you can go toUNCF Flash Houston Gala and support us.

(05:08):
Find out more about where we areand what we're doing. Yes man,
speaking of the gala, November eighteenth, you all will be having your annual
galen and looks like my good friendDJ d Nice is going to be spinning
talk to us about the gala inthis year's you know what y'all have planned

(05:29):
well as much as you can talkabout. We're so exciting. Last year
was the first year we were ableto bring the Gala back in person.
Yeah, and it was such abig hit. We had em free light
last year and we had a hiphop scene and the community just showed up
and showed out. So we hadto go big a go homes, right,

(05:53):
you can only go big in Houstonand Texas. So this year my
Jala chair Everica Little John Burnette andBrandy Carson, we sat and put our
heads together and they came up witha dynamic theme, Houston's Night in Havana,
and we're doing that. I know. I love Randy, by the

(06:14):
way, I loved Carson. That'smy girl. She's amazing. Her and
her husband, Yo years they're they'reamazing. Yes, but you know,
we wanted to pay homage to thediverse pool of scholarship recipients you and CS
support, So we really picked thescene to emphasize not only do we support

(06:34):
African Americans, but we also supportthe Latino community. In fact, for
the past four academic years, wegave out one thousand and eighty eight scholarships
to Latinos. Wow, the Houstonmarket, I know, right, So
we emphasized that, but of coursewe did give out the most to our

(06:54):
American brethren, and Sister Ramda gaveout sixteen hundred and sixty two scholarships back
to the gay I've seen as HavanaNights. We're asking everybody to come out
dressed as if they were hanging outin Cuba, and wear your fadoras,
wear your flowers, have a goodtime, bright colors. You know.

(07:14):
We want everybody to have salsa ontheir hits and dance on the dance floor.
And at the event, we'll havea raffle where people can help us
raise additional funds. All the fundsgo to support our scholarships and our operations
for our HBCUs. And then we'regoing to close the evening with some entertainment

(07:36):
by Yes and I'm so excited legendaryartists, DJ, photographer and philanthropist be
nice. It's gonna be amazing.And there's still sponsorships. Available. Come
on, Houston, come and partywith us. The partying for a purpose,
you know, eight decades the UnitedNegro College Fund has definitely been involved

(07:59):
and looks like this is gonna bea whole vibe. So how can should
they go to the website for thetickets or yeah, okay, absolutely,
UNCS dot org slash Houston Gala.Go to the website. You can purchase
tickets, you can see the itinerary, and if you can't come out that

(08:20):
night, you can also make adonation right there. Yes, oh man,
it seems like life. It's goingto be like the bomb. Listen,
before we get out of here,give us a couple of tips for
students, you know, when they'reapplying to HBCUs. Absolutely, and I'm
glad you brought that up because rightnow, not only are we seeing an

(08:41):
increase of applicants coming to apply forour HBCUs, but we're also seeing people
go to our website to apply forour scholarship. So good thing to know
is make sure when you're filling outyour applications, you fill them out completely.
You can act, we go tothe UNC have a website when you

(09:01):
are looking for funds, but there'salso a website and an opportunity for you
to fill out the HBCU applications.There's like one joint application that you can
fill out, but you want tomeet those deadlines. You want to get
your recommendations in and you want tobe sure that you answer all the questions

(09:22):
and most importantly, don't forget tofill out your fastuff. Oh now in
December, I believe it's December,they're going to be releasing it. So
that's another thing to keep in mind. And remember needs based scholarships have different
definitions. So just because you thinkright away, oh I'm not going to
be I'm not going to be eligibleor I can't get that scholarship, don't

(09:45):
think that way. Fill it out. Fill out the scholarships, fill out
the application for I've mentioned because youjust never know what God has been favored
for you. That is absolutely true. Man. I was helping my daughter
with her fast for last year.That is like you got to stay on
top of it. That and that'syou know, and some of these kids,
you know, bless their hearts,they don't have like, you know,
support systems. Some some do,some don't, you know, some

(10:09):
do, some don't. And Iwas one of those kids. I had
to figure it out myself. Youknow, my mom didn't really know too
much. So you know, youknow, I am so happy that the
u NCF, you know, isyou know, available even to give advice.
Right, Yes, absolutely, AndI'm glad you brought that up because
I was a first generation college studentmyself and had to figure it out.

(10:33):
I was a part of an amazingprogram upward down and a little bit.
Yeah right, stay on campus forthree summers for sixth weeks, thought I
was grown. But it did teachme how to navigate that that whole college
schedule and being resourceful. But atUNCF, we do have programs K through

(10:54):
twelve initiatives where we're working and partneringalongside parents to provide them with the college
readiness kits, to give them checklists, to help them really understand how to
maneuver this process, because it canbe overwhelming us if you yourself have not

(11:15):
been a part of it. Andwe do find the bulk of our students
our first generation college students, sothey do need the extra handholding and guidance,
and we provide that. And notonly do we do scholarships through our
programs, but we do mentoring programs. We do webinars virtually where people can
come and log on and listen tothe resources that we're offering the community,

(11:39):
whether it's navigating an internship or understandingsome of our companies. You know,
we have great partnerships in the communitywith organizations like HGB and Sell and do
It pack It Enterprises and Comical fillUps and you know just to name must
view as some of our big bigpartners and Marathon and Alliance Group and they
fund a lot of these sun thesescholarship programs and then do us a bit

(12:03):
more by allowing us the opportunity tohelp educate kids about their corporate culture so
that they can understand what this companyis looking like and what the possible career
path sow. You know, weare launching partnerships with Waburger. People don't
understand that whataburger. You know,you go there for your burger any time
of the day and night right rightyour career opportunity, Yes, a business

(12:28):
where they're looking. Yeah, they'relooking for executives to come in, especially
minority executives and planchise owners. Sowe're always looking to highlight and promote our
partners because without them we would notbe able to fund and give out the
scholarship fact we do. Oh man, that is like amazing. Oh,

(12:48):
I mean to go back, Iwould you know, there were some things
I could change if I could goback, but uh, you know,
in time. But this is Ireally commend the UNCF, like seriously for
everything that you do in the community. And speaking of community, how important
is it for a young listener rightnow or even just I mean somebody listening,

(13:11):
how is it? How important isit to get involved in the community.
Oh, it's so important. Communityholds us up, it lifts us
up, it restores you. Andnot only if you are supporting UNCS,
but any other nonprofit in your communitythat does good service and good will,

(13:33):
from feeding the baby, saving theanimals, curing cancer, being active in
your church right Sunday morning, beingactive in your church. That's where we
find community first, right, wefind community at our churches. And in
fact, that is also how manyAfrican Americans learn about philanthropic activities because we

(13:56):
give the church right, given ourtithes it right. So supporting the community,
finding your placing your voide, especiallyyoung people, because when you're filling
out those college applications, they're lookingfor leadership opportunities that you are showcasing.
So volunteer, go out and helpthe food, thank go out and serve

(14:18):
fit in the soup, kitchens,go out and collect. You can do
little things on your own. Youcan collect toiletries and do what toiletry drive.
You can again represent you inc.I bet your churches and get your
church to do a usc A Sunday, get your school to do a UNC
Friday or HBCU Friday, and haveyour student body push to let the kids

(14:43):
come. That's another thing that wefind too. A lot of our schools
in the area are not talking aboutthe quality of education that our HBCUs are
offering. And HBCUs enroll a lotof minorities can high quality education, not
just African Americans. So we area viable resource for everyone, and young

(15:07):
people today can help promote all ofthis in their community and get involved.
Man, all of that sounds soamazing. You actually have my mind actually
wondering, because I told myself,now you know, I have a little
extra time, I need to getback involved in the community. And yes,

(15:30):
definitely listen. How can everybody followyou and we'll follow the UNCF chapter
here and you see our website,Yes, definitely go to our website and
find all our social media handles andfind all of our there's a form on
here you can click to volunteer andyour information will come over to us.

(15:54):
All right, drop the website onemore time, you and see dot org
flash Houston Gala okay, yes,and the gala. Okay. I gotta
make sure. I gotta see Novembereighteenth if I'm available, because I do
want to attend, and I'm gonnahave to ask. Oh, we love
that we do to get some tickets. So ah, man, I really

(16:18):
really appreciated Zerena having us talk withyou this morning. And yes, UNCF
keep doing the great work in thecommunity, and you know, I'm gonna
probably go ahead and get involved myself. Oh thank you. That means so
much. Having you advocate on ourbehalf will definitely help us because next year
we're gonna have to celebrate in ourthirties. Yeah, that's gonna beth anniversary.

(16:42):
So yes, yeah, it's gonnago even bigger. Oh man,
I'm excited. I got to lookfor an outfit for the Savanna Knights and
I did that. I mentioned honoreesthis year to yeah, this year's Kalas
honoring. I'm so excited brit aboutthis church. They will be receiving the

(17:04):
Excellence and Education Awards and She's ina point energy. Long time supporters of
UNCS will be getting the corporate planand our very very special friend Jennifer Ford,
who hosted our kickoff event the othernight as from Yes and it was

(17:26):
amazing kickoff that she hosted for us. She will be receiving the John and
Drucy Chase w Award graulations and we'reso excited kids, Erica and Brandy.
They set up a fabulous event everyoneto come and Desiree Morgan, our honorary

(17:49):
chair for Wells Fargo, will bepresent to help us celebrate. And now
you're going to be here. I'mexcited, man, I am excited.
And you know November is my birthdaymonth, so I'm gonna dress up and
go out every week. That yes, definitely. Well, thank you so

(18:15):
much as aerena for hanging out withus this morning. Oh thanks for having
me absolute pleasure. Yeah. Remembermine is a terrible thing. No ways,
a wonderful thing too. Impress it. Hey, and that's how you
close out an interview. Really appreciateyou for taking the time out this morning.
I have everything up on my blogninety three seventy beat Houston dot com
keyword superstar. All right, Solet's keep it fiveing, y'all. Now

(18:37):
the second part this interview. I'mso happy to have my friend on the
line. He is no stranger toface the beat. He wears a lot
of hats, okay, a lota lot of hats in the community.
I don't know what hat he's wearingtoday. I know he used to be
the president of the Young Professionals UrbanLeague. Ray A Shackle, Hey friend,
good morning, heyday. So withoutwhat's going on? Shoot everything?

(19:00):
So what had are you wearing thismorning, today or yesterday? I just
say I'm wearing the hat of consultantto the Houston A Verbal League Center for
Social Justice and Education. We justhad a political form because there's an election
going on. Okay, Yes,that's why I wanted to talk to you

(19:21):
about this whole election locally right numberone. Yes, this is a local
election. This is a local election. And how important is this local election?
So it's extremely important. You know, Typically we hear that the presidential
elections are important, and that's wheneverybody shows up to vote. Unfortunately,

(19:41):
during municipal election cycles, which iswhat this is, we usually have anywhere
from you know, ten to twentypercent of our registered voters in Harris County
showing up. But we're electing ourmayor, our city controller, city council,
and these are the things that peoplereally feel when you're talking about services
like water, trash, and theseare things that impact your daily life.

(20:03):
So it's very very important. Yeah, what else should we look out for
on this ballot? So in additionto those three different positions, we also
have fourteen propositions. There is aHarris County Amendment as well as the Houston

(20:25):
Proposition. So they're actually trying tochange some things to the charter. And
so one of those is looking atgiving city council the ability to put something
on the agenda. So right now, the mayor sets the agenda, but
one of the ballot measures is proposingis that three or more city council members
will be able to get something onthe agenda. And so you know,

(20:48):
as the Urban League, we don'tpush people one way or another. We
just want to make sure you havethe information. And so a really good
resource is the League of Women Votersof Houston and so if you just go
LWV Houston Voters Guide, they havea whole guy that breaks down all the
candidates from mayor that's actually eighteen ofthem, the four candidates for City Controller

(21:12):
and then all of the city councilraces as well as these propositions and amendments
that I'm referencing. Oh wow,you know, I didn't even know that.
Now, I knew about the leadthe actual organization, which they do
a lot in the community. Butyou know what, I'm gonna go on
there and take a look at that. And you know what was very interesting,

(21:33):
Like a couple of weeks I thinkit was last week or a couple
of weeks ago. Two weeks ago, they had the actual debate at Houston
Baptist University and I actually sat thereand listened to the mayor the actual debate
between the candidates for mayor, andI thought it was very interesting. I
didn't even know we had eighteen running, you know. But I think it's

(22:00):
very important that people actually do theresearch themselves, right one thousand percent.
And I think, you know,that's the thing that we urge people to
do. And that's why we hadthe political forum yesterday at Wheeler Avenue Baptist
Church and we partnered with the HoustonMetropolitan Chapter and the Alumni chapter of Delta
Sigma Data here locally to put thattogether, and so we had most of

(22:25):
the major candidates show up. Wealso stream that it's recorded on Facebook and
so people actually can still access it. But we definitely want people to take
the time to look at who thesepeople are and which ones actually aligned what's
important to them because at the endof the day, they're going to be
running the city for the next fouryears, starting next January man four years.

(22:48):
So yeah, so I think it'svery important. So what and how
can the young voters get involved?You know, because well let me not
even let me rephrase that statement,because it's still a stigma about voting,

(23:10):
you know, and I feel likeyou don't get the right to complain if
you don't vote. And right nowthey've kind of missed the deadline right to
register. But for somebody that ison the fence of registering to vote,
you know, I guess for nextyear, you know, what would you
say to that to that young person? I think, because yes, you're

(23:36):
right, right now it's too lateto register to voting this selection. That
deadline has passed. But understand thatright now, actively people are trying to
take away your right to vote.And so one of the things we always
talk about is that if your votedidn't matter, they wouldn't constantly be trying
to make it harder. So theUrban League is actually a part of a
lawsuit right now where myself, membersof Delta Sigma Theta, other community members,

(23:59):
just their testimony in court and SanAntonio because if you remember, in
twenty twenty, we had things liketwenty four hour voting, drive through voting.
We can't use those things anymore,and that's because the state took them
away, and so they're actively tryingto make it harder. But even for
our young people, think about,you know, the types of jobs that
are available in the city. Ifeel like that's something that's important to everybody.

(24:22):
You want to be able to havea good job, make good money,
and provide for your family. Andthe people that you put in office
can impact that. They can bringdifferent businesses to the city. If you're
a business owner. I had tohelp somebody just a few weeks ago with
a permitting issue with the city,and right now there's a huge backlag.
So who could possibly get in officeto figure out, you know, why

(24:44):
do we have a backlag? Maybethere's a young person out there that wants
to start a business right now,it takes a minimum of three months to
get certified with the city. Youknow, some people feel like it shouldn't
take that long. So again,these are all things that I hope they're
paying attention to the be relevant tothem. And even if it's not one
of those issues, maybe it's somethingas simple as potholes. You know,

(25:06):
they're always talking about the streets infrastructure. That's something that again the mayor city
council, they control those things.And so if any of these things that
I'm mentioning are impacting you, youdefinitely should be paying attention, educating yourself,
voting if you're already registered, andif you're not, definitely make sure
you're registered ahead of the next election. Oh man, I think definitely they

(25:27):
should. Oh that's some great information. Ray, how can they get involved
with the Urban League, the localchapter, national? How can? And
I just had this talk actually too, how can or well, first,
first part of the question, howimportant is getting involved in the community?

(25:48):
Number one? And number two?You know, how can they get involved
with the National Urban League? Soyes, getting involved in the community is
very important, not just from thestandpoint of the ability to give back and
make a difference. You know,let's say you're from third Ward, fifth
Ward South Park aggershon enough n awif you know how to maryoroute to say

(26:12):
the fofo. But you have anopportunity to give back to those kids that
maybe have some of the same challengesthat you had, or even if you
didn't have those challenges, and youknow how you benefited from having resources.
It's just good to give back.But it's also an opportunity for you to
develop yourself, expand your network,connect with like minded people, and you

(26:36):
never know how that's going to translatedown the road. So you know,
when you look at the Urban League, I have been very, very very
blessed because it's allowed me to meetpeople like yourself, connect with different elected
officials, different business owners, andeven if it's not to my benefit,
I'm able to help out you know, my friends, my family, different
community members through all these different connections. So you know, if you're trying

(26:56):
to develop yourself, if you wantto start a business, get better,
the Urban League is a great placeto do it. So far, young
people, you can join the YoungProfessionals going to h as An House au
l yp as in Paul dot Orggo on the website, see when our
next event is, or even goon social media and follow hall yp h

(27:18):
a U l yp and see whatwe have going on. You know,
after the political forum yesterday, theyactually went and volunteered at a local community
center. And they're doing things likethis all the time. So it's no
better time to get involved than rightnow. And so if you feel like
you have some extra time, whateveryou have to give, we definitely want
you to come join us, getactive, and they'll make a difference in

(27:41):
the community man big time. Soy'all heard them, Get involved and get
out and vote. Drop the datewhen we voting. This the second Tuesday
in November. Correct, So electionday is the second Tuesday, it's November
the seventh. But we actually wantyou to go before that vote. It

(28:04):
is, Yes, we always wantpeople to early vote. It is on
October the twenty third, Monday,and so we want you to show up,
yes tomorrow. Do not wait,Please do not wait. Show up
vote as soon as possible. Takeyour brother, your sister, your uncle,
your aunt, your mom, yourdad, your friend, whoever.

(28:26):
Please take them to the polls withyou. Make sure they vote. You
can actually print out your sample ballotfrom Harris votes dot Com if you want
that, also from the Legal WomenVoters. These different resources that we referenced
earlier, and you can take thatin there with you because you can't use
your phone, but you can havepaper documents that you can use to help
you and please vote again. Earlyvoting starts tomorrow Monday morning, October twenty

(28:52):
third, to seven am, andit runs until November third, and then
election Day. It's actually the firstTuesday, November seventh, but don't wait
till November seventh. Vote October twentythird, Early vote, Early vote,
Okay, big time. WHOA onelast question? So what if I don't
know where to go vote early vote? I'm glad you asked. Yeah,

(29:15):
you can again go to Harris votedot com and you can get that information.
Not only does it have your sampleballot in terms of what is on
your ballot, but it also hasall the different polling places, and they
have technology that can show you ifthere's a lot of people at the polls
or maybe it's real light, andyou can run in real quick and vote
and run back out. And I'mactually going to time myself tomorrow when we

(29:37):
early vote, because I always earlyvote and I'm gonna let people know how
long it took me, and Iassure you if you early vote, it
is a much quicker process. Sogo to Harris vote dot com, find
a polling location that is nearest you, and make sure that your voice is
heard. And you know what else, you don't have to, you know,
go through as much when you earlyvote vote and you can go anywhere

(30:00):
right anywhere to early vote. AmI saying it? Yeah, Moon,
you are that's one hundred sty correct. You can go vote wherever you want,
and the polls open from seven amto seven pm. I think there's
one day during the early voting periodwhere the time might be different, but
if you go tomorrow you don't haveto worry about that again, seven am
to seven pm. Anywhere where there'sa polling location, you can go vote.

(30:23):
Man, I really appreciate you takingthe time to give us this important
information about voting, especially with thiselection locally in the h because a lot
of things need to change and theonly way we can change it is if
we go vote. So Ray,I appreciate you, bro. Yes,

(30:44):
I appreciate you for all that youdo and always making sure the community is
informed and doing so in a funand engaging way. So I definitely want
to give you some love for that. Thank you, my friend. Well,
don't turn up this Sunday fun day. Okay, all right, go
Astros appreciate you. All right,y'all, that's been my time here.

(31:07):
Go Superstar is out of here,and don't forget. I'll have everything up
on my blog nine three seven tobe Houston dot com keyword Superstar. Enjoy
your Sunday Funday. Make sure youkeep it locked all day. It's a
ride way winning weekend. Keep itlocked? Are you on the Allday?
Nine three seven to b